Erfolgreiche Koordination in turbulenten Zeiten: Die dänische Ratspräsidentschaft im ersten Halbjahr 2012

This article reviews the Danish Presidency of the Council of the EU in the first half of 2012 based on an analytical framework distilled from coordination theory. It shows how the Danish Presidency had to coordinate in a post-Lisbon environment and against the backdrop of a severe economic crisis. The overall goal of the Danish Presidency was to adopt a number of initiatives which would create ‘a more responsible, dynamic, greener and safer Europe’ in a professional way. In order to realise these aims, the Danish Permanent Representation in Brussels had wide room for manoeuvring the negotiations, as long as they stayed within the broad framework defined in Copenhagen. Overall, the Danish Presidency performed well
and gained recognition for having professionally closed several major initiatives in a turbulent political period of the EU.